Isaiah...

I'm going to just ramble for a bit. There is a lot of stuff going on and I just want to get a bit of it in this written journey of mine.

I am reading the Old Testament. I have been for a very long time, but then it is a very long book. I'm not reading for speed just to enjoy it. I've made my way almost through Isaiah. This is a book that really stumps a lot of us. I don't think I really appreciated it until I taught Old Testament in an early morning seminary class at Church. It was at that point that I got a lot of the basic history of Israel (the country) in my head. This is a help in understanding Isaiah. Often he speaks of current history for his time and Old Testament settings. But that same passage can also related to the end of days. So having a minimum bit of historical knowledge is very helpful.

I also found while teaching Old Testament that I really enjoyed reading Isaiah aloud. It is a book that I feel lends itself to a reading with your voice instead of in your head. It is a form of Hebrew poetry and, even though you may not understand all you are reading, while reading it out loud you come to appreciate the rhythm of the words and the strength of the words.

Over the years I've come to really understand some of the chapters and passages. Others I still don't quite get but I still truly enjoy reading the way Isaiah is written.

Then I started to read my Book of Mormon again while walking on the treadmill. I have a very old copy of the Book of Mormon. It is a hardbound big print version that was my seminary copy of the Book of Mormon. A lot of the chapters from Isaiah were included in 1st and 2nd Nephi, the first two books in the Book of Mormon. I enjoyed seeing again what I felt was important enough to underline or make notes about in the margins of my old seminary copy of the Book of Mormon. When I came to the Isaiah chapters some of them were right where I was reading or had just read in my Old Testament. What a delight to re-read without all my notes in my current copy of the scriptures. It was a pure pleasure to read these words again in this older Book of Mormon.

When teaching Isaiah in seminary, I had a good little book that some wonderful person wrote that took Isaiah and Revelation and in brackets behind the phrase or word it would explain what the phrase or word meant. This was a really helpful tool as well.

Another huge help for me in studying Isaiah is the LDS Edition of the King James Version of the Holy Bible. In the footnotes are included idioms and Hebrew definitions of words that may be obscure to us or may have a very different meaning today than it did anciently.

Here are some of my favorite thoughts from Isaiah:

• Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (This is just a most comforting verse to me. I often share it when I send a note to a friend who is struggling or has endured a loss in their life.)
• There are several chapters that begin with or have included in them the phrase 'the burden of Babylon (or some other location)'. That word burden means a message of doom lifted up against a people. These are important to read and understand what will happen historically and what I should guard against.
• While reading the Psalms I looked for the word 'trust' this time. So as I read Isaiah 14:32 I noted the word 'trust' with a little letter 'd' leading me to the footnotes. The explanation of the word 'trust' in this case mean 'seek refuge in it' (the it being Zion).
• Another newly acquired favorite is Isaiah 61:1-3. Our stake president used these verses in his talks during the ward conferences in 2009. The words are just beautiful: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are boung; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengence of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah is speaking of the Savior here and the role he is to play for and in our lives.)
• One of the most profound chapters is Isaiah 53. This describes our Savior, the suffering he would have to endure and that it was part of our Father in Heaven's plan. It has words like despised, rejected, grief, sorrow, stricken, smitten, bruised, oppressed and many more. But buried in this chapter are words like pleased, bear pleasure, prosper, healed, offering, knowledge and peace. This chapter is truly worth reading again and again.
• Isaiah's words in Isaiah 1:18 promise us that even though our sins be like scarlet because of the Savior those same sins can be white as snow through repentance.
• Even Handel used the words in Isaiah 9:6 in his famous work 'Messiah' that we hear each Christmas...For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, Teh everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
• There is the story of King Hezekiah's life being lenghtened by 15 years and the sign to Hezekiah that this would truly happen was the sun being turned back 10 degrees.
• I love the strength of the words in Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait (Hebrew meaning is hope for or anticipate) upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles (I can see those majestic birds flying in Alaska); and they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
• As a parent, I loved the words in Isaiah 54:13 "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children."
• There is a great chapter about the law of the fast in Isaiah 58.
• While reading Isaiah 40:22 I came across a phrase that I shared with Jake. He has a wonderful appreciation for space. This verse says, "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers..." The phrase 'circle of the earth' caught my attention. I shared with Jake that people somehow think people that lived long ago didn't understand the earth was round. Clearly here they did know of the 'circle of the earth'.
• Then there is Isaiah 6 which explains the call of Isaiah as a prophet. If I were an artist (and I truly am not) I would paint a picture of what these words describe to me.

So there you have it, just a few of my observations in Isaiah. I don't understand all of Isaiah but he is not nearly as intimidating as he once was. I've learned to be comfortable with learning a little more each time I read and study this good book. I don't have to know and understand it all right now. I can learn line up line, precept on precept and be just fine. I'm truly grateful his record was preserved for us to study today.